Lack Of PR

I'll tell you who could use a little help from some Public Relations professionals: Hollywooders. Those at the top of the list include Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Chris Brown. Their latest antics have proven foolish, childish, and violent, and none of them are enjoying good publicity right now. However, as the old addage goes: Any publicity is good publicity. In the case of celebs, that may have some truth to it.

Non-Profit Public Relations

Interested in a career in non-profit PR? Check out this site for some helpful tips and insights.

Corporate Public Relations

Corporate PR, while only one aspect of the world of public relations, can play a large part in society. This site provides some interesting articles by a PR professional named Elizabeth Albrycht. I thought that fellow classmates mind find the information interesting.

World War II Public Relations

World War II was a time of propaganda. Nowadays, the word "propaganda" has a negative connotation; we relate it to the words "misleading," "false," and "biased." However, in those days the term could quite realistically be connected with the idea of public relations: it was a means of shaping public opinion through a variety of ways. Admittedly, some of those ways were less than honest, but the idea was the same. This site has several press releases that were written during World War II. They illustrate the same ideas and practices that we use today.

Bernanke's PR Challenge

I saw this article on the Wall Street Journal about the public relations involved in current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's job. I thought it was interesting.

Ragan.com

Ragan.com is great resource for PR professionals (or those who would like to become PR professionals). It includes articles about PR and new technologies that are influencing the way that PR people are doing their jobs.

The LDS PR Machine (Again)

This last week I got onto LDS.org to see what was going on in the newsroom. It was there that I realized that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is certainly not behind the times when it comes to new web 2.0 technologies and connecting with people in new ways. These new ways include youtube, text-alerts, email, widgets, Facebook, RSS feeds, and, yes, even Twitter. The Church of Jesus Christ has always been interested in staying on top of new technologies in order to stay in touch with its members across the globe, and across the age gap. It used to be that when you search for anything on the Church online, you only found anit-mormon sites. Now the Church has put out so much information, including a new series of youtube videos that focuses on explaining its doctrines, that they can compete with everyone who has something negative to say about the Church.

Good Advice

I came across this article written by a PR specialist about how to help entrepreneurs start a business and get the media attention that they want. She provides some great ideas on how to get the stories published that you want. Good stuff.

Local PR Jobs

You don't need to look far for a job in PR. These local businesses just might be what you're looking for.

Public Misinformation

A recent article published by USA Today states that ten years after the horrific Columbine shootings, where fifteen people were killed including the two gunsmen, a large portion of the information that the public had received was incorrect. It says that after the shooting the two gunmen were portrayed as "loners" and "goths" who were angry at the world for years of being bullied and mistreated. It says that the media painted them as depressed, antisocial, and victims of violent video games. The article published by USA Today contradicts these ideas. It says that the attack planned by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold was not a cry for help, or a retaliation, but a grand show for all to see and fear. In many ways, the media responded exactly how the two murderers wanted them to. 

Where were the PR people when all of this was going on? Were the media and the public just getting fed the information that they wanted to hear? Does it make it easier to justify what happened if we think that a few nameless bullies and jocks were the ones to blame? I wonder how the information got to the media, how much of it was pure assumption, and who was in charge of sharing that information.

The LDS PR Machine

Without going into the politics of it, the LDS church has been in the news quite a bit lately for various reasons: propostion 8 and, more recently, HBO's airing of "Big Love", in which they supposedly depicted a sacred LDS temple ceremony. Now, you can find just about any opinion about the LDS church on the internet, from love it, to hate it, to don't care, to don't know. But there is one thing you can't argue with: the LDS church knows a thing or two about effective public relations. The church, in my opinion, knows how to work with all of the various publics that it interacts with, both in Utah and outside of Utah. Understanding your publics and knowing how to interact and work with them is the first step to effective PR.

Whoops-a-daisy

President Obama recently became the first president to do a nighttime talk show while serving as president. What does he do to take advantage of the moment? He makes a seriously no-no gaffe by comparing his bowling ability to "watching the special olympics." Whoops. Not supposed to say that on national television, especially not when you're the freaking president of the United States.
The Onion, seizing the opportunity, said this: "Obama on gaffe: Sorry, I acted like a retard." Now, this could be a PR problem. Lots of special olympics enthusiasts could be angry. But Obama made a smart choice. While on the plane ride back to Washington after taping the show (and before it aired on national television), Obama gave the president of the special olympics a call to forewarn him about his inappropriate joke and apologize. The president of the special olympics said that he was touched by Obama's sincerity and didn't think that Obama was trying to be malicious with his comment. The Late Show with Jay Leno came and went, with a little, but not much, attention about the inappropriate comment. Disaster averted.